The last time Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz, Jr. were in the ring fighting each other; Ruiz was supposed to have been Joshua’s stepping stone to his coronation to the US boxing world. On June 1, 2019, however, Ruiz had other plans. Ruiz used good controlled aggression, jabs, counterpunches, and combination punching to get inside to overwhelm Joshua.
Joshua scored a knockdown on Ruiz in round 3. At that point, the Madison Square Garden boxing crowd was pumped, and everything was going according to plan as far as the coronation of Joshua was going. Ruiz, however, had other plans. Ruiz got up from the knockdown and stormed back to knock down Joshua twice in the 3rd round.
The Madison Square Garden boxing crowd was stunned as they were trying to comprehend what was happening. Ruiz continued his assault on Joshua as Joshua was fading and knocked him down 2 more times in the 7th round. The referee stopped the fight, and Andy ‘The Destroyer’ Ruiz, Jr. shocked the boxing world with a 7th round TKO victory over Anthony Joshua.
With the win, Ruiz captured the WBA, WBO, IBF, and IBO heavyweight titles, thus, becoming the first Mexican heavyweight champion in boxing history. It was one of the biggest, if not, the biggest upset in Boxing History. Now Ruiz vs. Joshua 2 will take place at the Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
If Andy Ruiz, Jr. wants lightning to strike again, expect for him to get inside to inflict punishment on Joshua as he did in the first fight. Ruiz is a good counterpuncher so expect Ruiz to use those punches as well to keep Joshua from being too aggressive. The rematch boils down to Joshua.
Remember, Ruiz stopped him in the first fight. Is that stoppage still in the back of AJ’s mind? If Joshua goes into the ring on December 7, 2019, thinking about the stoppage, it will be another great night for Ruiz. If Joshua is focused, however, by getting his stamina issues solved; boxing standing straight up by using his jab to keep Ruiz at bay while mixing in an occasional straight right hand or uppercut; expect for Joshua to get those heavyweight titles back.
Who wins? Ruiz has a huge chance to increase his status as one of the very best heavyweights in the division with a win on Saturday night. Joshua, on the other hand, has everything to lose. If Joshua loses this fight, he will lose his status as one of the best heavyweights in the world. Ruiz’s status or Joshua’s status?
Expect for Joshua to rise to the challenge and get back into the conversation as one of the best boxing heavyweights in the world today.
Prediction
Anthony ‘AJ’ Joshua by 12th round unanimous decision victory
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